By Francisco Salazar

Temecula, Calif. - Middleweight contender Rob Brant has demonstrated in the past that he can outbox his opponents. Over the last couple of fights, he has demonstrated his power as well.

Brant improves to 21-0, 14 KOs. Fitzpatrick, who has lost five of his last six bouts, falls to 15-5, 6 KOs.

It was all Brant from the opening bell, landing at will to the head of Fitzpatrick. Anytime Fitzpatrick launched an attack, Brant would make him pay with a combination to the head.

Brant dropped Fitzpatrick with a two-punch combination to the head in the second round. Fitzpatrick almost fell off the canvas due to the momentum of the fall, but did manage to stay on the canvas.

The end came in round three, as a right-left combination to the head dropped Fitzpatrick to the canvas. Fitzpatrick looked as though he beat the count, but referee Eddie Hernandez stopped the bout at 1:18.

Brant, who trains with welterweight contender Errol Spence, is ranked in the top 10 of two boxing's sanctioning bodies.

Hard-hitting junior middleweight Skender Halili (11-1, 11 KOs) stopped Ben Odamattey in the first round. After a right cross stunned Odamattey, a barrage of punches from Halili dropped him to the canvas. Odamattey (16-15-3, 9 KOs) beat the count and fought on, but was hurt when a right hand staggered him. Referee Ray Corona stopped the bout at 1:17. 

In a battle of unbeaten super middleweight prospects, Cem Kilic knocked out Jerhad Fenderson in the second round. After an even first round, Kilic (6-0, 3 KOs) began to score repeatedly with right hands in the second round. A barrage of punches by Kilic stunned Fenderson against the ropes. Moments later, Kilic landed a left hook to the head, dropping Fenderson to the canvas. Fenderson beat the count, but referee Eddie Hernandez waved the fight over at 1:50.

Welterweight Malik Hawkins won a four round unanimous decision over Sean Gee. The heavy-handed Hawkins could not miss with hooks and crosses, especially when Gee (3-5) was on the attack. Gee mostly took the punches well and was competitive throughout the fight, but could not keep up with the more-accurate puncher in Hawkins. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Hawkins, who improves to 9-0, 7 KOs. 

In the opening bout of the Greg Cohen Promotions card, bantamweight Jarico O'Quinn won a four round unanimous decision over Jonathan Quiroz. O'Quinn (3-0, 2 KOs) was stunned by a left hook to the head in the second round, but was the more-effective boxer during the other stanzas. All three judges scored the bout 39-37 in favor of O'Quinn.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing